Jongno 3-ga bakery revisit: garlic baguette to rival Sokcho's, Munhwa

I went to Jongno 3-ga! It has loads of cafés and plenty of outdoor-seating pubs, so it's a great date spot. The location is great, and there's an amazing bakery here! I'm a self-proclaimed bread lover, and I want to introduce a bakery that even I rate highly, haha. This is my go-to place, Munhwa Bakery (문화제빵).

Where is Munhwa Bakery and how to get there

Munhwa Bakery is just a 2-minute walk from Exit 7 of Jongno 3-ga Station, so it's easy to reach. The address is 65 Donhwamun-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, ground floor. It's open daily 11:00-19:00, and there's no parking.

I heard they only sell bread baked that day, and any unsold bread is given to people in need: children who miss meals, elderly people living alone, people with disabilities living at home, free meal centers, homeless shelters, social welfare facilities and so on! A bakery that does good deeds too? No reason not to go! I was really curious how it would taste.

Munhwa Bakery exterior, waiting and two-group entry

I was surprised that there's usually a line if you go right at opening, haha. All kinds of ages, and even foreigners were waiting. Luckily, there was no line this time, so I got straight in~

The inside is small, so only two groups are let in at a time! Still, everyone buys quickly and leaves with their bread packed up, so the line moves fast.

Munhwa Bakery breads and price list

A clean interior with nothing but bread, haha. A bakery only needs bread, right~ Now let me go through the breads one by one.

• Injeolmi bread (roasted soybean-powder rice cake bread) ₩3,800
• Peanut bread ₩3,800
• Mugwort rice cake bread ₩5,700
• Milk cream bread ₩3,500
• Black sesame bread ₩3,800
• Cheese bread ₩5,400
• Squid ink condensed milk bread ₩4,500

• Onion bagel ₩6,000
• Sweet potato bread ₩3,800
• White red-bean paste bread ₩3,800
• Walnut bread ₩3,500
• Rice chestnut loaf ₩5,800
• Rice cheese loaf ₩5,900
• Maple cream cheese bread ₩4,900

• Coffee bread ₩5,800
• Garlic bread ₩6,800

So much variety! I bought the most famous one, the garlic baguette. The price surprised me. Bread has gotten so expensive lately, but here it feels like old-time prices, pretty cheap!

Once you buy it, they cut it and pack it right in front of you, haha. In bite-size pieces so it's easy to eat!

₩6,800 garlic bread: a match for Sokcho's garlic baguette?

Garlic bread, ₩6,800. I'm not someone who usually buys garlic bread, okay? But I tried it last time and it was so good it kept haunting me.. so I came back for the garlic baguette again!! It would have been a real disaster if I hadn't bought it. If it's your first visit, definitely get the garlic baguette. I'd imagined a hard baguette with a bit of garlic flavor, but Munhwa Bakery is on another level.

The baguette is soaked through in a sweet garlic sauce, and it's (not soggy) nicely rich and moist, soaked just enough to be easy to chew ❤️ The garlic flavor is insane.. I think there was a part with something like cream cheese too. Bite into that part and wow. I think I'll only think of Munhwa Bakery whenever I think of garlic bread. Yep, haha, there's a reason it's the best-seller.

Free salt bread from the review event

The review event salt bread. Wait, the prices are good and they give you a salt bread for the event too~? Honestly I wasn't expecting much, but I'd pay money for this!

The bottom is buttery and crisp, there are few butter pockets inside but the butter flavor is great! The salt makes itself known, nice and salty. I ate it feeeling so satisfied.

Would I go back to Munhwa Bakery?

Overall the prices are fine and the taste is the best! It's a Jongno 3-ga bakery I'd want to stop by again and take away from whenever I crave garlic bread, haha. The garlic baguette was comparable to the place in Sokcho that I traveled to because I heard it was famous. Maybe this one is even better?! Haha. A bread lover is recommending this, so you can trust me and eat it.